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\nI wrote a whole essay about scenes where men look at themselves in the mirror<\/a>. Mirrors are amazing thematic and visual motifs, but they also work for moments where a character has to grapple with himself. Women grapple too. But because of societal norms – as well as enormous different kinds of psychological and cultural pressures – male grappling is re-directed and\/or internalized – and how does one show on film something so deeply internal? Enter: the mirror scene. <\/p>\n These scenes are really useful for characters who walk through the world behind a persona. And “persona” could just be something like “I am normal” “I am a good person” “I am unthreatening”. However, when this person is alone at home, staring in the mirror, the truth comes out. OR, looking in the mirror is the character’s attempt to get to the truth<\/i>, because the persona is so set in stone they don’t even KNOW anymore. They’re so used to hiding their softer spots. <\/p>\n And so there’s an extended mirror moment in Countdown<\/i>, the new series which will unfold over this summer, one episode a week. The first three episodes launched a couple of days ago. I was excited to watch, because of Jensen Ackles, and then got very sucked in to the thing as a whole. The setup is cliched, but as I’ve said a million times, if a cliche is used well, it’s because the cliche works. Cliches can be lazy but they don’t have to be. They’ve hired a diverse cast of good solid actors – not just pretty new faces – people with some miles on them, in other words. I’m old. I appreciate people with mileage. <\/p>\n Ackles plays a Los Angeles police officer who has done mostly undercover work, and it all sounds very dangerous. Like, there’s mention of his time infiltrating an Aryan gang. Literal Nazis. When we first meet him he’s in prison in an undercover capacity, but he’s been in there for eight months. He’s off the grid. It’s The Departed<\/i> shit. Not everyone can do that kind of work. You can’t really have normal attachments, a wife or kids, even a social life. (His counterpart is Amber, played by Jessica Camacho, who works mostly undercover, finds desk-job work tedious, and loves the adrenaline of being undercover. Nothing can compete with it.) <\/p>\n Pulled out of undercover to be on this supposed rag-tag task force, Ackles’ Mark swaggers through the office, antagonizing people, but trying to be charming, or maybe he’s not even trying. His charm isn’t charm at all. Charm has to WORK to be charming, lol. He doesn’t care. He’s not used to normal interactions and doesn’t seem to value it. He emanates “personal train wreck”. Being legitimately open with anyone is not on the table for him. If you’re going to watch the series, I won’t spoil it, but he has a secret. (Most of the characters do.) And his secret is a bad one. A scary one. He has told no one. Who would he tell anyway? He has no friends and no family (at least not as seen in the first three episodes). <\/p>\n Enter: an overwhelming mirror scene which opens episode three. (On the Plaidcast<\/a>, I brought up Countdown<\/em> near the end of the podcast, because the trailer had just dropped, and Bethany said, “Wasn’t there a Jensen mirror moment in the trailer?” I couldn’t remember if there was but … YES. There is a mirror moment par excellence<\/i> in episode 3.) Jensen Ackles had so many fantastic mirror moments in Supernatural<\/i>, which I documented in their entirety over on my personal meaningless Instagram project: Movie Mirrors<\/a>. You’ll have to scroll back but they’re all there, 15 seasons of Dean Winchester mirror moments. Dean is a character MADE for mirror moments since So episode three of Countdown<\/em> begins with Mark, at home, alone, taking a shower, grappling with what’s going on. He’s in the truth of his situation and it’s upsetting. He’s face to face with the secret. The scene goes on and on. He gets out of the shower and begins to consider himself in the mirror. He avoids it at first, and then faces it, leaning in, to stare at himself eyeball to eyeball. This is what I am here for. This is why I love these moments and have an entire category on my site called “mirrors<\/a>“. Mark is trying – at the very least – to be there for himself. He’s avoiding the landscape of the secret, and is in active denial about what should be done. He knows what should be done but he is refusing to deal with it. There’s a devil-may-care kind of thing with his persona, but “devil-may-care” is synonymous with “death wish”. Here, alone, he feels the weight of it. <\/p>\n If there’s a mirror in a room, we are not alone. You can’t hide from your own reflection. Mark’s reflection says: You can lie to everyone else, Mark, but you can’t lie to me. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I wrote a whole essay about scenes where men look at themselves in the mirror. Mirrors are amazing thematic and visual motifs, but they also work for moments where a character has to grapple with himself. Women grapple too. But … Continue reading
\n1. he’s so tough
\n2. he is a master at pushing stuff down
\n3. he is really good at compartmentalizing to such a degree that he actually doesn’t know what’s going on with himself. <\/p>\n